"Harikikigaki” 針聞書 [1568]

The yokai in this section are originally from The “Harikikigaki” 針聞書 or “the book of needles” ‑ a 1568 tome about acupuncture & medical knowledge written by a resident of Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. ‑ It’s an incredibly valuable source of information about the way people used to think about illness in those days, caused by monsters and supernatural things. the book is currently housed at Kyushu National Museum as a centre piece. (twitter: @kyuhaku_koho ) ‑ The book is mainly about acupuncture however, Its most popular for including 63 unique diagrams of “Shaku” Microbial/parasitic/germs/bug sized creatures thought to cause disease & Illness! ‑ it also lists treatments/cures for each!!

These germ‑sized yokai are often collectively known as ‘Hara‑no‑mushi’ [腹の虫] sometimes also ‘Kan No Mushi’ [疳の虫] (aka “belly bugs”) – today the term is more commonly used as an expression for when babies & children have unexplained tantrums – (The parents cant tell what’s quite wrong.) ‑ they’re quite possibly the cutest parasites you’ll ever see, but make no mistake, despite how cute they may appear, these creatures were once taken most seriously!!